The upcoming release of the Pentagon’s study on the effects of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will help Senate Democrats pass the Defense Authorization Bill and effectively repeal the controversial policy, according to a senior member of a left-leaning think tank.
“Were in a solid position to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in this lame duck session,” Winnie Stachelberg, the senior Vice President for External Affairs at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. “We have… 10 senators that have declared that they want to hear from the Pentagon before they take a position on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Those senators which included Senators Scott Brown (R-Mass.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine, who voted against the bill last time it made it to the floor, but have committed to reconsidering their position once that survey is released.
The vote will likely be held in the lame duck session, before the arrival of additional Republicans in the upper chamber.
The study is slated to land on the Defense Secretary’s desk on Dec. 1st, but the Pentagon has not yet said when it will be made public.
The last time Democrats attempted to hold a vote involving the policy barring gays from serving openly in the militarythat contained the repeal, the motion to invoke cloture failed to secure the 60 votes needed to sidestep a filibuster. 56 voted in favor, with Democratic Senators Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) withholding their support.